Anxiety disorders and Sleep apnea

Does anyone know, does poor sleep quality related to anxiety make the AHI number go up. For example, not getting good rest say. For example if you have a stressful meeting the next day or something the next day. You sleep but, toss and turn a lot. So it's a restless sleep. Will that register as clear airway events? I noticed the numbers are good on most days, but under stress the numbers go up. Even if that person is sleeping.

Yes. It can't tell if you are not breathing because you are turning over or having a CA. Sleep breathing is different from awake breathing. When awake you often hold your breathe when doing something that requires physical concentrating or effort.

stardust123 wrote:Does anyone know, does poor sleep quality related to anxiety make the AHI number go up. For example, not getting good rest say. For example if you have a stressful meeting the next day or something the next day. You sleep but, toss and turn a lot. So it's a restless sleep. Will that register as clear airway events? I noticed the numbers are good on most days, but under stress the numbers go up. Even if that person is sleeping.

the only absolutely correct answer is maybe. possibly even probably, but it depends on the person.

My numbers usually double or triple when I am under a lot of stress.

When Im real anxious or upset about something, yes it affects both my pressures and sometimes my AHI. When Im acutely stressed out, Im talking severe, I tend to have a hard time getting into normal deep sleep, I have observed. That difficulty getting into normal deep sleep for some reason tends to keep my pressures shallower. Say normally, my 95th percentil is from the 11s to the 10s.

If something real super stressful happens to me, a couple times a year maybe something will occur that stresses me severely. For a night or two, my 95th percentile wont go past about the 8s or 9s. Because Im tense and cant sleep well for that night.

I deal with it by either exercising aerobically real heavy for a few days. Or by taking some relaxing medication like a benzo. And when the severe stress dissipates and I relax again, my 95th percentile goes back to normal.

I have also observed that when my sleep apnea is poorly treated or not treated, I am always, consistently irritable, anxious, nervous as well as being tired.

MrGrumpy wrote:When Im real anxious or upset about something, yes it affects both my pressures and sometimes my AHI. When Im acutely stressed out, Im talking severe, I tend to have a hard time getting into normal deep sleep, I have observed. That difficulty getting into normal deep sleep for some reason tends to keep my pressures shallower. Say normally, my 95th percentil is from the 11s to the 10s.

If something real super stressful happens to me, a couple times a year maybe something will occur that stresses me severely. For a night or two, my 95th percentile wont go past about the 8s or 9s. Because Im tense and cant sleep well for that night.

I deal with it by either exercising aerobically real heavy for a few days. Or by taking some relaxing medication like a benzo. And when the severe stress dissipates and I relax again, my 95th percentile goes back to normal.

I have also observed that when my sleep apnea is poorly treated or not treated, I am always, consistently irritable, anxious, nervous as well as being tired.

Isn't it past your bedtime?

Thank you everyone. That makes a lot of sense.

One of the symptoms of sleep apnea is waking up and getting a flood of adrenaline. The adrenaline is to make sure you wake up and breathe. I would gather that having this adrenaline rush it makes it hard to settle back down. I could see how getting this treated would be helpful for an anxiety disorder. But not sure you wouldn't have other symptoms of anxiety or other triggers.

jonny515 wrote:One of the symptoms of sleep apnea is waking up and getting a flood of adrenaline. The adrenaline is to make sure you wake up and breathe. I would gather that having this adrenaline rush it makes it hard to settle back down. I could see how getting this treated would be helpful for an anxiety disorder. But not sure you wouldn't have other symptoms of anxiety or other triggers.

One of the problems is that once you have a "learned response" your body uses it in any situation it thinks is similar. It is quite amazing that what used to give you an adrenaline high can suddenly turn into an anxiety attack!

I have had adrenaline wake ups so severe it took over an hour or two to get back to sleep.

chunkyfrog wrote:I have had adrenaline wake ups so severe it took over an hour or two to get back to sleep.

I'm having this problem at the minute. I seem to wake up and have to breathe really heavy and sit up suddenly and then because I realise I have a mask on I feel panicky. I basicly have to take the mask off and go watch telly for an hour or two and then try sleeping again

Quite true. They told me I could have insomnia because I had learned that sleeping wasn't a very pleasant thing, because I was waking up all the time. That makes quite a lot of sense.

An adrenaline rush feels a lot like anxiety, so that makes sense too. (I'm not sure physiologically there is much difference.)

BlackSpinner wrote:

jonny515 wrote:One of the symptoms of sleep apnea is waking up and getting a flood of adrenaline. The adrenaline is to make sure you wake up and breathe. I would gather that having this adrenaline rush it makes it hard to settle back down. I could see how getting this treated would be helpful for an anxiety disorder. But not sure you wouldn't have other symptoms of anxiety or other triggers.

One of the problems is that once you have a "learned response" your body uses it in any situation it thinks is similar. It is quite amazing that what used to give you an adrenaline high can suddenly turn into an anxiety attack!

Ive never thought of my sleep apnea events as "adrenaline rushes" I wake up from, but maybe thats what they are. Now that I think about it, yeah it makes sense. The way I always described it to people is I would wake up repeatedly and would have night sweats real badly, wake up feeling nervous or just generally really bad and NEVER EVER dream while sleeping.

Severe night sweating, wake up sheets soaked in sweat, bed pushed away from the wall at least a foot maybe more, twisted into weird shapes when awake, wake with bad headaches and sore acid throat (awful feeling!), just awful way to live and exist.

It goes away the first night I am on CPAP. The acid throat, the waking up with headaches, the night sweats and waking up repeatedly...all goes away with CPAP.